


In the Drama of the Moment

by Nerdofmanytalents



Series: As Long as You Follow [11]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Dinner is awkward, Episode: s01e16 Dead to Rights, F/M, Gen, also I feel bad cuz Tommy’s birthday is kinda awful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:42:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23322643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdofmanytalents/pseuds/Nerdofmanytalents
Summary: Oliver asks Felicity to come with him for Tommy’s birthday dinner, but it doesn’t go quite as expected.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, Tommy Merlyn & Oliver Queen
Series: As Long as You Follow [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1167482
Comments: 55
Kudos: 261





	In the Drama of the Moment

**Author's Note:**

> This thing was such a monster to write. It’s still not 100% what I wanted but at this point I want it gone so I can move on to other parts. 
> 
> This takes place at the beginning of Episode 1x16, Dead to Rights.

By the time Oliver reached Laurel’s place, it was already five minutes past when they had been meant to arrive. As he rounded the corner towards the apartment, he caught sight of Felicity standing in the hall, eyes down on her phone and tapping out a message. 

“Right here, if you’re texting me that I’m late,” he spoke up, feeling a grin creep onto his face as she startled and looked up. 

“Oh, no, I just got here too. I hit traffic after dropping Jonas off with Thea at your place. I was just...checking in with them,” she admitted. 

“They’ll be fine. Thea was thrilled that you trusted her to watch him.”

“I know. I mean, objectively, I know. It’s just...hard. It's just been me and Jonas for so long and as much as we’re used to daycare and we're used to me being gone sometimes, being gone when it’s not...work related or really... _ other work _ related, it feels different for some reason, I guess?” She shrugged sheepishly. “It probably doesn’t make sense, sorry.” 

“No, it’s fine. I appreciate you being willing to come. After that bad date with McKenna, I haven’t really had anybody I could bring along to this kind of thing and as much as I love Tommy and Laurel, being the third wheel to my ex and my best friend is not...appealing.”

“You mentioned that, I can’t imagine why…” Felicity drawled. “Speaking of the detective, that was a bit of a close call tonight.”

“Unavoidable. Barerra is notoriously slippery, and his reputation precedes him even if he weren’t on the List. We need to find out his target and without him able to tell us who it is…” 

“I know. I have the phone working on decrypting back at the foundry. I had Digg plug it in and I was able to remote start my programs. I’ll get an alert as soon as it’s cracked. Might take a while though, the encryption on that thing was  _ insane _ .” 

“Good.” He glanced down the hall at the apartment door. “We better get going though, we’re already late.”

Felicity blinked, then nodded. “Right!! Oh gosh this is so rude, I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. If anything, my reputation precedes me and we’ll be considered fashionably late,” he teased. 

As they approached the door, it was thrown open by a jovial Tommy.

“I thought I might have heard our guests skulking around out here. Welcome!” Tommy gestured them both inside.

Oliver grinned, handing over his gift. “Happy birthday, buddy.”

Tommy grinned down at the bottle for a second. “Uh oh, this feels like a Chateaneuf de pape.”

“It’s gonna taste like one, too.” Oliver joked, moving to take Felicity’s jacket from her and hanging it on the rack. 

“You are a true friend, thank you,” Tommy said sincerely. 

“So it takes a birthday to actually get wine out of you?” Felicity spoke up, giving a playful stink eye to Oliver. 

“...I never did follow through on that, did I?” He admitted to her softly, before turning back to Tommy. “Tommy, you remember Felicity.”

“Of course!” He took her hand, miming kissing it gallantly. “Enchante. It’s wonderful to see you again.”

“So charming! Happy birthday.” She fiddled with the frame of her glasses for a moment, before jerking a thumb in Oliver’s direction. “Um, I come unprepared, so I suppose I’ll piggyback off of my companion’s gift.”

“And you’ll get all the credit,” Tommy assured. “Come on in, get comfortable.”

Just as he ushered them further into the apartment, Laurel greeted them from the dining room.

“Ollie, good to see you. Who is this?” Felicity couldn’t help but notice how shrewdly Laurel eyed her. 

“This is my friend Felicity. Tommy suggested I bring a date but I left it to the last minute, so Felicity generously agreed to be my plus one.” Oliver explained. He stepped away at Tommy’s prompting for a moment to speak with him, leaving Felicity with Laurel. 

“You have a lovely home,” Felicity quickly complimented, gesturing awkwardly to the windows. “The view looks amazing.”

Laurel’s examination was intense, and Felicity felt a bit like a bug under a microscope. “Thank you, it’s good of you to come. Ollie didn't mention who his date was. Do you know Ollie from the club?”

“Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm Jonas’ mother.” The second she said it Felicity kind of wished she could swallow herself whole. Where had Oliver disappeared to? 

“Jonas?”

“My son, Laurel.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Felicity looked over as Tommy and Oliver returned to the dining room. However, when she looked back to Laurel, the other woman’s gaze had turned predatory.

“Oh. I wasn't aware you two were dating.”

Felicity blanched. “Oh we aren't! Just….co-parents. No dates going on here. Just...two people who share a kid.” She looked to Oliver a bit desperately to back her up. 

“Friends. Felicity works at QC, in the tech department.” Oliver explained, hand falling to her back to comfort her nerves which she was sure were spilling all over the place. 

“Oliver, come give me a hand here, I'm trying to get this uncorked to breathe but I can't get it out for the life of me…”

Oliver looked to Felicity in askance, before she waved him off. He hesitated a long moment, looking between the two women before stepping away again. The moment he was out of earshot, Laurel spoke again.

“So then you two have known each other for a while now.”

Felicity was beginning to regret all of her decisions. On what earth was this dinner a good idea? 

“Um...sort of? We met back--I mean, when he was...before…” Felicity paused before a big gust of air escaped her. “I'm sorry. I know this is awkward. Like...unbelievably awkward, because I know you think I'm the bad guy, but I swear I didn't know...I mean Oliver is a great guy, but back then….oh God, I'm sorry, this is awful.”

The pause after her outburst was painfully long, before finally being broken by the sound of the door. 

“That will be the food.” Laurel stepped away to join to get the door. Oliver returned to Felicity’s side, bending close. 

“...is everything alright?” He asked gently. 

“I'm pretty sure she hates me. Like, a lot. And that I seduced you. Which, technically past-me did proposition you but only after past-you propositioned past-me first. There were mistakes made by all parties involved that night, up to and including using a faulty condom and Oliver will you please shut me up?”

Oliver let out a low chuckle, before looking towards the door where to his surprise, Malcolm Merlyn stood at the threshold. Well this just got a lot more awkward.

Moments later, Tommy stepped out into the hall, leaving the remaining three adults to themselves. Oliver attempted to appease Laurel by asking about her work. Tommy returned a few minutes later and nobody dared ask about how the conversation had gone. 

After Malcolm had left, the whole mood of dinner was a bit tense. Tommy’s joviality was a bit forced, with Oliver trying to diffuse the tension alongside him. Meanwhile, Laurel kept shooting Felicity looks like she was something she scraped off her shoe, and all the tension was unfortunately exacerbating Felicity's foot-in-mouth disease. As things were winding down, it felt like a godsend as Felicity's phone began to ring, the picture she'd assigned to Thea of her and Jonas flashing on the screen.

“Sorry, do you mind if I take this?”

She stepped out of the room just into the kitchen, feeling Oliver's eyes on her even as he tried to engage Laurel again. Felicity answered the call.

“Hey, Thea, is he behaving for you?”

_ “Felicity, I'm so sorry, I swear it was an accident, Ollie and I used to do it all the time and nothing happened and we were having so much fun-” _

Feeling like she'd been doused with ice water, she felt her heart rate picking up. Forcing herself to remain rational, Felicity quickly tried to reassure her. “Thea, honey, stop, please. Take a breath, what happened? Is Jonas alright?”

Thea took a deep breathe then sniffled over the line, voice a bit croaky with emotion.  _ “He got hurt. I...we were playing, we were using a blanket to side down the stairs, Ollie used to do it with me all the time and we never got hurt but I must have done it wrong and he fell on his elbow and started crying and screaming and mom has us in the car and we're driving to the ER-” _

Recognizing a panic spiral in the works, she took a deep breath, turning and meeting Oliver's eyes from across the room. His brow immediately furrowed.

“Thea, breathe. Deep breath, is he still crying? I'll meet you there. Talk to me.”

_ “He- he's still crying but not as bad. Mom's holding him and he's just kinda sniffing. I'm so sorry Felicity, this is all my fault, I was so stupid!” _

Oliver had joined her in the doorway by now, frowning. “Whats going on?” he asked softly. 

Felicity paused for a moment, breathing purposefully to settle her own nerves.. She nodded to him before turning her attention to Thea again. 

“Okay, Thea, it's alright. He's going to be fine. Just...listen to your mom, take a deep breath and try to stay calm. Oliver and I will meet you at the hospital. It's going to be fine, it's not your fault.”

_ “O-okay. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for anything to happen-” _

“It's going to be fine,” Felicity reassured firmly. “Just try to keep calm; if you're calm, he'll stay calm. We'll see you in a few minutes.”

Hanging up, she turned to Oliver. “It sounds like he fell and maybe broke his arm. Your mom’s taking them to the hospital.”

“Oh my God, okay, let's go.

“If you like, I can go now and you can catch up with us at the hospital? It's Tommy's birthday and the whole thing with his dad already sucked-”

“No, I'm coming.”

“Everything alright?” Tommy asked as he and Laurel stepped in the room. Felicity turned to them. 

“Tommy, I'm so sorry but it looks like Jonas took a tumble and may have broken his arm. Thea and Moira are with him on the way to the ER.”

“Oh my God, yeah, of course go.” Tommy said quickly, frowning deeply.

“You left him with Thea?” Laurel’s tone was skeptical and more than a little judgemental.

Both Felicity and Oliver felt their hackles raise but it apparently hit all the wrong buttons for Felicity because the way in which she turned on Laurel could only be described as ‘Mama Bear.’

“Yes, I did. And I stand by that decision, not that it's any of your business.”

“Sorry, of course,” Laurel demurred. “I only meant that I didn't realize Thea had experience babysitting. It's just awful that he got hurt.”

Felicity stared at Laurel for a long moment before choosing not to engage, turning to Tommy.

“I'm so sorry this night was crappy, Tommy. Maybe Jonas and I can make it up to you later, he was excited to make you a birthday card when he heard where we were going.”

“Don't apologize, there's no need. The night was kinda a wash anyway. Oliver and I will just go for lunch another day. And I'd love to see Jonas again, keep me updated on how it goes?”

“Of course,” Oliver assured as he returned from stepping to grab Felicity's jacket and purse. He said his own goodbyes and ushered them both out the door. 

The drive to the hospital was nerve racking for both parents, but Felicity could definitely tell Oliver was on edge. Having let him drive, she gently tapped his knee to get his attention. 

“Hey. I know we're both freaking out but he's gonna be okay. Kids get hurt; your mom was there and she got him to the hospital.”

“I just...Felicity, he got  _ hurt _ , how are you calm?”

“Oh I'm  _ definitely _ freaking out. But these things happen.” Seeing that this wasn't helping, she continued. “Oliver, when Jonas was 3, I switched him from a crib with rails to a regular kid bed. In the middle of the night, he rolled out of bed and conked his head on some toy that got left out. He gave himself a goose-egg the size of a golf ball, and he had a little cut that just bled  _ everywhere _ . I ended up in the ER at 2 AM, in a complete panic. But he was fine. No concussion, no need for stitches. Kids are accident prone but it's just part of being a kid. Didn't you ever break a bone as a kid?”

The tension was bleeding out of him a bit, before a wry grin made its way across his face. 

“A few.”

“See? Your mom's got this, and we're almost there.”

They quickly parked near the ER, and at the reception desk were directed to a private room. As they approached the open door, they could hear Jonas chattering quietly. In the doorway, they were greeted with Jonas perched on the end of a bed next to Thea, with Moira seated next to them in a chair holding out her phone for Jonas to use one handed.

The tension visibly bled out of Oliver at the sight.

“And see now you have the game on your phone, grandma. See, it's downloaded. How do you have no games on your phone? Aunt Thea has games on her phone.”

“Well I always use my phone for work. I had no idea there were so many games for a phone,” Moira explained calmly. “I'm very lucky you know so much so you can teach me.”

“I'm a good teacher,” Jonas boasted, drawing a laugh from his parents. He looked over and lit up.

“Mom! Dad!” 

Felicity rushed forward, pulling Jonas into a gentle hug. “Hey, baby, are you okay?”

“Yeah, we were playing but then I fell and hurted my arm.” He gestured to his arm that was held carefully to his side. “They gave me some medicine and now it doesn't hurt so much but it still hurts some.”

Thea spoke up from next to Jonas. “Felicity, I'm so sorry-”

She was cut off as Felicity released Jonas and pulled Thea into a hug.

“Thea, please, don't apologize. Accidents happen. I must have slid down the stairs a billion times as a kid and I'm pretty sure stitches were required at least twice.” Felicity assured. She pulled back to grip the teen by her shoulders. “I was just telling Oliver about how I've been in the ER with him before. It's okay. It's not your fault.”

“Felicity is right,” Moira spoke up, drawing the attention of everyone. “While sliding down the stairs and such rough housing isn't the  _ best _ idea--as I am sure I told you and Oliver many,  _ many _ times as children--we all know you never meant for anyone to get hurt.” 

A wry expression crossed her face as she looked at Oliver fondly. “Why, I'm pretty sure Oliver was this age when he and Tommy decided that they would be heroes or firemen or something to that effect, and tried to rappel down from the second story banister using a bedsheet. Tommy ended up with a dozen stitches on his forehead, and Oliver was in a cast for his knee for nearly three months.”

“I remember that,” Oliver grumbled where he'd taken his turn to kneel next to Jonas. “That was the worst summer.”

Felicity broke into a laugh, and a grin warmed Thea’s face. Meanwhile, Jonas looked at Oliver in awe. 

“You had a cast, dad? The doctor said if my arm was broken I had to be in a cast.”

“Yeah, I've had a few times in a cast before,” he assured. “It wasn't very fun and it was kinda itchy, but it helped me get better.” 

The group continued chatting quietly until they were rejoined by a doctor who started them on the process of getting Jonas into a cast for his apparently broken elbow. Jonas was fascinated by his x-rays, insisting that they looked like dinosaur bones. “Like the ones in the book Aunt Thea read to me!”

“Now one last thing,” the doctor said. “You need to pick a color for your cast. We can do red, blue, green, purple-”

“Green!!! I want green!” Jonas exclaimed excitedly, before grunting as he jostled his arm in excitement. Oliver and Felicity exchanged a wry look over his head. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for sticking with me! The kind reviews and comments I get from everyone keep me going. As always, to anyone new, make sure you subscribe to the series if you're interested in seeing more. And feel free to go visit other segments of this series too. 🥰
> 
> Have a great day and I hope all of you are staying safe in these crazy times!


End file.
